Christians from St Paul's, Menai are taking their faith to market by calling on shoppers to think beyond their own trolley and consider those who can't afford to eat.
Earlier this month several members of the church went into their local shopping centre to encourage residents to lobby the federal government over increasing its poverty-focused aid to the world’s poorest countries.
They manned a stall for seven hours over two days to educate locals about the global ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign and asked them to sign a petition calling on the Australian government to help.
The petition was signed by about 160 people and will eventually be presented to the local Federal Member of Parliament, Danna Vale.
According to Christian lobbyists from The Micah Challenge, 16 per cent of the world's population goes hungry every day " equal to one billion people living in extreme poverty.
St Paul's Children’s Minister, the Rev Stephen Shearsby who coordinated the stall said Christians had a unique basis for taking a stand for those affected by extreme poverty.
‘Jesus’ resurrection in human flesh means that every person on this planet matters as much as the next," he said.
"Whether you are black or white, Asian or Caucasian, Muslim or Christian, whether you live in Cronulla or the Congo, Jesus’ resurrection in human flesh affirms the natural equality of all people."
“Although the government’s recent increase in aid is welcome, it still falls seriously short of what is needed to fulfil our country’s share toward halving extreme poverty by 2015."
Tough message to sell
Mr Shearsby said that one of the challenges facing the stall was communicating to people that they weren’t collecting more money for charity.
"We had to work hard," he said.
“What we tried to communicate was that by signing our petition every resident could have a stake in halving extreme poverty without spending another cent. This campaign is about reminding our government to fulfill the promise it made, along with all other signatories to the UN, back in 2000.
"These good intentions must be translated into a reality for the good order of our world and in view of the natural equality of every human being."
The volunteers also offered face painting and balloon modelling for children.
In 2004 the Sydney Synod passed a resolution calling on Sydney Anglicans to respond to the campaign by supporting the Micah Challenge.
